IBM Microdrive Reviews

Rating
Reviewed by:

hellinvader
( Intermediate)

Review Date
February 6, 2005

Overall Rating
4 of 5

Value Rating
3 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Review 1 of 5

Price Paid: $1200.00 from hong kong

Summary:

I bought a 1G microdrive @ 2003 for $1200HKD. I've been using it with my D100 and it works great, except 1 time when i accidenly put it out when it's transfaring files, and it was screwed up. it won't read and write and it makes nosie sound like running outa power. since i'm in canada and there's no warrantie for out of country. so i gota get a new 1 anyways; i was so pissed and i slam it with a small book. and it magically works again. tho microdrives are cheap/MB, they are kinda slow compare with the top CF cards and since its a HD, it can eventually be screw up. HOWEVER, when the ExtremeIII is out, the 1G Ultra II 80x card was droped to $128CND in a local computer store. so i switched to a Ultra II.

Similar Products Used:

Sandisk 1G Ultra II Fuji 64MB SM unknow brand 128MB SM Panasonic 64MD SD Sandisk 512MB SD Kingston 512MB SD

Customer Service:

nvr required since i fixed it by slaming it

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Rating
Reviewed by: Trevor Ash
(Intermediate)

Review Date
November 25, 2003

Overall Rating
4 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
2-5 years

Review 2 of 5

Price Paid: $0.00

Summary:

I've been using microdrives for a few years now (since the Canon D30 was first available). I've never had any problems with them so far. I bought one brand new and two used once. I now use them in a Canon 10D. Currently, the price on these versus other cards can't be beat. They can be had for a little over $100 and I think the last two I bought (7-8 months ago) were $300 for the pair. I only gave it a lower overall rating due to how slow the card is compared with the top end cards.

Strengths:

Lots of space, cheapest MByte per dollar.

Weaknesses:

Slower on some (high-end usually) camera models.

Similar Products Used:

San-disk 256M, and the supplied 32M Canon card.

Customer Service:

Never used.

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Rating
Reviewed by: Martin Klap
(Intermediate)

Review Date
September 5, 2002

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Value Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
0-1 years

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
1 votes

Review 3 of 5

Price Paid: $300.00 from Kamara-express

Summary:

I bought my MDMD 10340 (340MB/4500rpm) Microdrive 1 1/2 years ago and had no problem with it at all. It works as it should do. I had it with me on several back-packing trips without it ever failing. I just love it and plan on buying another one for my Canon G1

Strengths:

low price per MB, although the normal CF cards of 256MB reach the same value for money now.

Weaknesses:

None. I knew that it is slower than regular CF cards.

Similar Products Used:

CF 16MB

Customer Service:

Not applicable

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Rating
Reviewed by: Abe Furburger
(Expert)

Review Date
May 3, 2000

Overall Rating
5 of 5

Used product for
1 Month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5,
1 votes

Review 4 of 5

Summary:

Well, I lashed out an bought a 340Mb microdrive... I have been using it on my Canon S10 with no problems at all.(Version 1.0.0). But I decided to update my version to 1.0.1 with the kit supplied on the net. It was quite easy and worked first time. This has not affected how the camera works at all (from my point of view). I am able to get 235 photos at the best reolution, and over 500 in the 'auto' mode. This is good enough for even the most avid photographer. Battery life (rechargeables) has been affected by about a 30% decrease in usable time, but still acceptable. I use 2 rechargeables, and one lithium (normal) as a spare. I plug the drive into the pcmcia adaptor, and it works first time, every time in the notebooks that I have tried. All the best, Abe.

Strengths:

Fast, lots of photos

Weaknesses:

Uses more battery power - but not too bad considering.

Similar Products Used:

none.

Customer Service:

N/A

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Rating
Reviewed by: Carl Salland
(Intermediate)

Review Date
April 12, 2000

Overall Rating
4 of 5

Used product for
1 Week

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5,
1 votes

Review 5 of 5

Summary:

This is not exactly a review. I just purchased the Casio QV 3000EX Plus which comes with the IBM card. There's no question that this is a great piece of engineering. It means that you don't have to buy additional CF cards and the picture quality is superb. My problem is that I do not own a PC. I use an HP P-1000 photo printer which does take a CF 2 card. However, if I take 4 shots, the HP reads that there are 8 photos. When I print an index sheet, the first 4 photos are raw and the next 4 are the finished versions of the first 4. Apparently, the HP P-1000 is not completely compatible with the IBM Microdrive. I just thought I should throw this out there in case someone else ends up with the same combo of equipment. It does seem to work normally when I use DPOF.

Strengths:

Ability to shoot a great number of photos without having to change cards.

Weaknesses:

Some incompatability with card reading printers.

Similar Products Used:

Various cards that came with Nikon, Canon, and Olympus cameras.

Customer Service:

Haven't called IBM. E-mailed HP 4 days ago, but have not heard from them. Casio was no help, but I don't think the camera is the problem.

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